Bazins Next Door Vienna

My wife and I are pretty protective of our date night meals. We don't go out often and, when we do, we have a short list of places that we like to visit. Places like Coastal Flats and Panda Express that are known winners and will always provide us with a quality meal. We went out on a limb and decided to shake things up a little bit. Bazin's on Church quickly rose to the top of our list as a place that was worth trying. Overall: Bazin's is a strange mixture of a fancy restaurant and a sports bar. Staff is wonderful and thoughtful, but not always the quickest. The food is some of the best that we've had in the area. Bazin's is located in the middle of downtown Vienna, which means that there's plenty of street parking around. On entering the restaurant we were greeted by a sweet hostess and were led to our table. We had booked a reservation online beforehand but there was plenty of seating when we went, so I'm not sure how necessary it was. We were seated right next to the bar which gave us our first glimpse into the weirdness of this place. On our left hand side, there was a fairly small dining area with a bunch of tables. It was a really nice spot with great lighting, big windows looking out onto the street and a pretty classy, interesting decor. On our right was a bar with a TV that was playing horse racing. And right behind us was an open concept kitchen were all the staff was working, running bills and talking. That wasn't necessarily a problem, but it felt a bit like a Jekyll and Hyde situation where the restaurant was trying to cater to two audiences and the dining area was so small, I don't know if it pulled it off. Perhaps if we had sat in a different part of the dining area our experience would have been different. Shortly after our waiter came out and took our drink order. He was super nice and thoughtful, offering us recommendations and helping us understand what the people around us were eating so that we could make a decision on what we wanted. He brought our drinks and then slipped away to the kitchen for like 15 minutes, which seemed a bit long for the period between drinks and an appetizer order. My wife and I ended up both ordering seafood, I got the blackened salmon and she ordered the crispy branzini. I'm not much of a seafood man myself, but I must say, it was some of the best salmon that I've ever had in my life. My wife, who is a seafood person, agreed with me. In our opinion, the fish was just about perfect and complemented very well by the sauce that accompanied it. I was deeply impressed. Now we get to "the damage" as my father used to say. I expected to pay a little more for the meal and I wasn't particularly shocked by the final bill (a little under $100 for the two of us). The food was worth the price, but the combination of everything else made it feel a little high. Here's my final review. As always, my wife and I employ a 5 point rating system for the restaurants we visit. Here's how Bazin's faired: 1. Atmosphere: 2/5 Bazin's has the opportunity to be really cool and a nice, classy spot. But the bar, TV and open kitchen definitely took away from the feeling and ended up being more of a distraction to us than a cool feature. 2. Price: 3/5 Not unreasonable, but a bit on the higher side. $100 for a meal for two + an appetizer feels a bit steep, but your mileage may vary. 3. Staff: 4/5 The staff was great. Kind, helpful and thoughtful. The only ding was that we had some pretty significant periods of waiting before we were able to place our order. 4. Food: 5/5 Best seafood that we've had in the area, no doubt. The portions were plentiful and it was absolutely delicious. 5. Repeatability: 3/5 This rather subjective standard is used to determine whether or not we would come back to this place regularly. I think we would on another date night, but probably not in another circumstance. We loved the food, but the cost of everything definitely makes it a once-in-a-while kind of restaurant to visit.

Love this spot. First of all, the staff here is exceptional, always putting the patrons first. Food was delightful. Crispy oyster appetizer was possibly one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth. The braised short ribs were nothing short of phenomenal. Great experience, highly recommend.